Integrated circuit design has many phases. One such phase is the simulation of the design in which the operation of the integrated circuit is simulated including, for example, simulated logic processing, signal transmission and signal reception. The timing of the integrated circuit design is also simulated. The simulation of the integrated circuit is typically performed by a computer system known as a “test bench.” The test bench also includes software for testing the operations of the simulated integrated circuit.
The number of devices (e.g., transistors) on an integrated circuit is ever increasing. Present generations of integrated circuits have millions (and even billions) of devices. The requirement of simulating the local loads and corresponding voltage drops caused by the operations of millions of devices can require several days for the test bench to complete. In order to accurately perform design yield and performance analysis, multiple integrated circuit simulation runs are typically required with different device/transistor parameters applied to represent process, voltage and temperature variations locally and across the integrated circuit. These time consuming simulation runs can greatly increase the design time for a new integrated circuit.